Adjustable work board for armed chairs



y 1951 M. M. HARLES 2,555,130

I ADJUSTABLE WORK BOARD FOR ARMED CHAIRS Filed May 20, 1948 g 11 F|G.|.F|G.2.. 8k 7 WI km Ila 6G 11 8b 671 2 9 m an W W u m 811 ATTORNEYPatented May 29, 1951 OFFICE ADJUSTABLE WORK BOARD FOR ARMED CHAIRSMartin M. Harles, St. Louis, Mo.

Application May 20, 1948, Serial No. 28,145

1 Claim.

This invention is an adjustable lap and work board, with attachmentsmounted at the ends of the board and at the underside thereof wherebythe board may be adjustably positioned upon the arms of a chair, overthe lap of the user, for supporting'the board in convenient position foruse.

The principal object of the invention is to provide a combined andadjustable lap and work board adapted both to fit closely to the body ofthe user as seated in an armed chair, and provided also with adjustabledevices at the under side of the ends thereof, such as above referredto, for supporting the board upon the arms of the chair, in convenientposition for use.

Another object of the invention is to provide a lap and work board ofthe kind referred to, the same comprising a board dimensioned to overliethe arms of an armed-chair and formed at its inner margin with anarcuate recess for fitting up to the waist of the user, said board beingformed at its ends with transversely extended fiat, shallow andelongated slideways, at the under side of said board, slide-shoesslidably mounted in said slideways, work-board supporting shoes pivotedat their inner ends to the inner ends of tilting arms attachedtransversely at the ends of the work board, and the said shoes beingpivoted medially to the slide-shoes of the slideways formed in the endsof the board, and means fortilting up or lowering the outer ends of the1 said tilting arms, to suit the convenience of the user.

With the stated objects in view, together with such additional objectsand advantages as may appear in the specification, attention is nowdirected to the accompanying drawing as illustrating a preferredembodiment of the invention, and wherein Figure 1 is a frontalelevational view of an armed chair, showing the adjustable lap and workboard as positioned upon the arms thereof.

Figure 2 is a side elevational view of the assembly shown in Figure 1.

Figure 3 is an under-side view on an enlarged scale, of the lap and workboard, showing the adjustable attachments referred to as mounted at theunder side of the board, at the ends thereof.

Figure 4 is a cross-sectional detail on the line t-4 of Figure 3, and onan enlarged scale.

The adjustable lap and work board as constructed in accordance with thisinvention, is designed for use upon an armed chair 5, as conventionallyformed with the legs 5a, seat 5b, back 50 and side arms 5d. The boarditself ineludes a broad and suitably elongated lap-board 6, the samebeing formed with an arcuately outlined or semi-circular recess Ea cutcentrally in through the inner side of the board and whereby the boardis adapted to fit up closely to the body of the user as seated in thechair 5. Flat and shallow grooves or slide-ways 6b are formed andextended medially into the ends of the board at the under side thereof,these grooves or slideways being beveled down inwardly along their lateral margins as at Go, and there being saw-slots 6d extended on downbelow the bottom of the slide-ways, for a purpose to be described. Apair of sheet-metal slide shoes 1 are formed with angularly inturnedflanges along their lateral margins as at la, and are thereby adaptedfor slidably fitting into the slide-ways 5b and slots 6d of the board 5.

A pair of elongated work-board supporting shoes 8 are provided, the samebeing formed angular in cross section for providing vertically pendantwebs or stop flanges 8a, and thus adapted for positioning longitudinallyupon the arms 5d of the chair, with the webs or flanges 8a turnedinwardly down alongside the inner vertical sides of the chair arms, toserve as stops against their accidental displacement. A pair of workboard supporting arms or tilting arms 9 are pivotally pinned at theirinner ends to the inner sides of the vertical flanges 8a of the shoes 8by means of bolts or pins Ill passed horizontally through the alignedinner ends of the elements 9 and 8, and thus the arms 5 are adapted forvertical angular movement or tilting. These tilting arms 9 are formed orprovided at their outer ends with vertically pendant beaks 9a, the samebeing transversely and arcuately slotted as at 9b for receiving andpassing the horizontally extended adjustment bolts II which are seatedat their headed ends through the blocks 8b anchored atop the shoes 8 attheir outer ends. The bolts H are provided with thumb nuts ll a, wherebythe tilting arms 9 may be raised or tilted up as desired and thus lockedby turning up the thumb nuts. Knobs or bosses 9c are similarly dependedmedially at the under sides of the tilting arms 9, and adjustment boltsl2 are passed vertically and freely up through these knobs and arerigidly anchored by welding or otherwise centrally and smoothly throughthe bottoms of the slideshoes I, as indicated at 12a. Thumb nuts i212are mounted upon the projected and threaded lower ends of the bolts l2.By this arrangement as the slide shoes 1 are moved inward or outward'inthe slideways 6b of the board 6, for

" adjusting the attached shoes 8 and arms 9 to the arms 5d of the chair5, the shoes I may be releasably locked to any such adjusted position bymerely turning up the thumb nuts l2b.

It is thought that from the foregoing specification the construction,use and operation of the adjustable lap and work board will be fullyunderstood. In such use the work board may be readily adjusted upon thearms ofachair, over the lap 5f the user, and may be tilted up verticallyas desired, conveniently for use for writing, reading, or for work ofany kind.

And while I have here shown and described a specific form and embodimentof the invention, and specific structural features thereof, it isunderstood that the form and features as shown may be changed ormodified as desired, within the scope of the claim.

I claim:

A work board for adjustably mounting upon the arms pf a chair, the saidboard being fcrmed medially at its ends with Wide, fiat; shallow;de-" pressed and suitably elongated slide ways eX- tended into the boardat the under side; thereof and in longitudinal aligmnent with eachother, the lateral margins of these slide-ways being beveled inwardlyand there being narrow sawslots following the bevel of the margins ofthe slide-ways and extended further down into the board below the bottomof the shallow slideways, and a pair of flat sheet-metal slide-shoesrectangular in form and having their lateral margins bent angularlyupward to provide flanges conforming to the angular bevel of thesaw-slots of the lateral margins of the slide-Ways and thereby slidablyfitted into the said narrow sawslots of the slide-Ways of the board, andthus adapted for adjustably supporting chair arm engaging elements 'asmounted upon and depended from the said slide-shoes.

- MARTIN M. HARLES.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file ofthis patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 1,435,774 Wilkins Nov. 11,912,267 Fitzsimmons May 30, 1933 2,194,839 De LiSl Mar. 26, 1940

